


Charlie's Graduation

by treacletarts



Category: 13 Reasons Why (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Coffee Shops, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Gen, Graduation, Monet's (13 Reasons Why (TV)), Post-Canon, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:27:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24770011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/treacletarts/pseuds/treacletarts
Summary: Charlie is about to graduate. The whole group goes to support him. Character reunion!Canon compliant.Disclaimer:I don't own any of the characters, settings or plot in the 13 Reasons Why book (Jay Asher) or TV show. This is for entertainment purposes only.
Relationships: Charlie St. George/Alex Standall, Clay Jensen & Tony Padilla, Jessica Davis & Alex Standall, Justin Foley & Clay Jensen, Zach Dempsey & Alex Standall
Comments: 12
Kudos: 131





	Charlie's Graduation

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to quickly add: Please don't debate about if the show is good or not. I assume that if you’ve clicked on this you are a fan anyways, but for those that aren’t, this message is for you. I recognise this show has been quite controversial and has some problematic elements, however I still quite enjoyed it. I can like something while still admitting that some parts can be seen as problematic. That being said, thank you for clicking on this fic and have fun!

Tony’s bright red Ford Mustang appeared around the corner. Clay smiled, a little sadly. He knew Justin would have wanted to be here. Charlie and Justin weren’t exactly close, but they were certainly friendly. Clay felt a slight heaviness in his chest at the thought of him. A year later and his passing was still incredibly painful. 

Tony entered the driveway, giving Clay a welcoming wave. Clay quickly opened the passenger door and hopped in. 

They drove in comfortable silence most of the time, occasionally chatting about boxing, Brown University and their own ceremony a year prior. It was good to chat in person for once, and Clay was beyond grateful for the opportunity. Surprisingly, Tony and Clay had kept up their friendship: texting, talking on the phone and FaceTiming. In fact, the whole group was still rather close, despite them having gone their separate ways. Even Courtney and Ryan were coming along to celebrate. Clay leaned his head against the cool car window and tried not to think about how Justin had never gotten the chance to properly graduate.

“Clay, we’re here,” Tony said, tapping him gently on the shoulder. 

“Ugh,” Clay mumbled, sitting up drowsily and rubbing his eyes. He didn’t know how long the trip had been and how long he had slept for.

They both grabbed their belongings, exited the car and walked towards the field- they were still familiar with the school grounds. They immediately spotted Ani, Jess, Alex and Zach and went over to join them. They all hadn’t changed much, apart from some different hairstyles. Clay was more excited than he thought he’d be, and quickly fell into conversation about Jess’ bold college activism. The rest of the group slowly filed in, and were all warmly welcomed, but they didn’t have much time to catch up before the ceremony began.

It went smoothly: Principal Bolan spoke a few words, the student body president expressed how proud they were of everyone, and the group cheered deafeningly when Charlie’s name was called. It was very reminiscent of when Clay himself graduated, and he could not help but feel a surge of immense pride for Charlie, as he was sure everyone else felt too. Who knew that the star quarterback would end up being one of their closest friends. When the ceremony came to a conclusion, they were all beaming from ear to ear.

The group waited for Charlie in the gym, Alex with a vibrant bouquet of flowers in his hands. Zach teased him relentlessly, calling him a ‘hopeless romantic’. This caused Alex to nudge Zach violently in the ribs in retaliation, while Zach laughed his head off (everyone else watched with ample amusement). Finally, Charlie showed up, wearing the classic blue graduation attire. Clay noticed that Alex nearly dropped the bouquet when he saw Charlie. He then regained composure and walked towards him, a silly grin on his face, an enormous contrast to his usual smirk or frown. The corner of Jess’ mouth quirked up knowingly. Love worked in mysterious ways sometimes. The group hung back a little to give them some space. Charlie locked eyes with him, his cheeks slightly tinged with pink, his blue eyes sparkling. He took the flowers, gave Alex a little kiss on the cheek and hugged him. Alex then whispered something in his ear, which made Charlie laugh and blush a little more. After a while, they turned to face the others and waved them over.

It was then that they all rushed up to Charlie, offering their congratulations and hugs. Clay said the usual sentiments, praising Charlie for his academic, sport and social achievements. Charlie graciously accepted each compliment, all the while never leaving Alex’s side. Finally, once they had some time to gush over Charlie, they all headed to their ‘office’. 

A blast of warm air and rich coffee scent hit Clay as he opened the door to Monet’s. The group found their usual spot and settled in; some sitting at the nearest table and some snuggling on the various couches. They had a lot to catch up on. Zach started the conversation, talking about his unexpected success in music, and his many mishaps on the journey.

“There was this one time where I tried to play music to a girl ‘cause I thought it would be romantic… She ended up running away from me. Needless to say I never saw her again,” Zach said. The group laughed in sync. 

“She had a point, you know,” Alex said cheekily.

“Shut up, Alex,” Zach replied, shoving him playfully, then winking at him. Alex rolled his eyes. 

This conversation continued, with each of them sharing their own unique experiences: Clay spoke about how difficult Brown was, Ani modestly talked about her Stanford courses and impressive job prospects, Jess shared some insight into a few college groups that she was interested in and Tony briefly talked about some boxing matches. Tyler and Alex told their own anecdotes, and they both described their trips together when visiting Estela and Charlie. The former was very sweet about it and expressed how great the rides were, while the latter good naturedly complained that it was a lot of work just to go see someone. Ryan and Courtney, being a year older, didn’t have much else to share as they continued with their classes in drama and law respectively. The group always seemed to have something to talk about and there was never an awkward silence where no one had anything to say. It was as if they had never been apart.

Clay felt that there was something he had to do, or rather, say. In the middle of Alex’s angry rant about his car breaking down, Clay whispered to Charlie:

“Hey, could I speak to you for a sec?”

Charlie nodded, and they headed to a separate corner of the café.

“So, what’s up?”

Clay cleared his throat and tried to speak but all of a sudden it felt clogged and choked. He awkwardly cleared it again and began:

“I just wanted to let you know…” He stopped, trying to find the right words. 

Charlie looked at him expectantly, but patiently.

“I just wanted to let you know that Justin… he would have been so _so_ proud of you.” Clay looked up at Charlie, a few tears welling up around his blue-grey eyes. 

Charlie brought his arms up to his chest, almost as if he were hugging himself. 

“I-I know,” he said, his voice breaking slightly. “Thank you.”

Clay gave him a small, lopsided smile and returned to his couch. Charlie followed suit.

Soon enough, the sky outside turned to a kaleidoscope of glowing orange and fiery red. They had been at Monet’s for over 5 hours. Somehow, it still did not feel like nearly enough time. And as Clay sat there, with all his high school friends, Jess and Ani joking around, Zach, Courtney and Ryan telling stories, Charlie and Alex listening while holding hands naturally, and Tony and Tyler playing card games, he realised one thing. They weren’t the friends that would drift apart after a few years. They were friends for a lifetime.

  
  



End file.
